Vultures

[Ikoon]

This is my favorite shot during my recent visit to the Kruger National Park in South Africa. I was taking numerous shots of the sitting vulture, when another one landed and almost immediately took of again. Your opinion and critique would be much appreciated.

Canon EOS 60D
Sigma 70-300mm 4-5.6 IS lens
1/320 sec
F/8
Focal length: 95mm
ISO100
Aperture Priority
No flash

[Bruce A]

While it's a fascinating shot, if the top bird wasn't in frame it would be a fabulous shot imo. Still, you certainly got a great capture there.

Just to add, I should explain - having two birds make two focus points and makes it hard to focus on one or the other. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Doug Sundseth]

FWIW, I think that the second bird adds interest to the photo and I like the composition you've chosen.

I'm not thrilled by the motion blur in the wings of the bird taking off, but I know that I couldn't have changed settings fast enough to change that for a developing situation.

FWIW, I've started ramping up my base ISO significantly whenever I'm shooting birds. I get a bit more noise, but Lightroom is pretty good with that, and I get much less motion blur when I'm trying to grab a sudden in-flight shot.

Very nice capture.

[Ikoon]

Thanks for the replies and positive feedback. I've took about 20 photos of the the bottom bird alone, and also a few with the other bird sitting on the top perch. My shutter speed was just too slow to freeze the top bird taking off. Luckily it's head is not too blurry.